Our GHG emissions performance
We saw a decrease in our direct greenhouse gas emissions in 2018
The decrease was primarily due to actions taken by our businesses to reduce emissions in areas such as flaring, methane and energy efficiency.
Other factors contributing to the decrease included operational changes, such as lower throughput at some of our downstream sites in Germany and increased gas being captured and exported to the liquefied natural gas facility in Angola, as well as the divestment of some of our North Sea assets.
We saw a large decrease in the total volume of flaring – the controlled burning of gas during oil and gas production – in our upstream business. This was driven predominantly by reduced flaring at our assets in Angola, Asia Pacific and the North Sea. We are aiming for zero routine flaring by 2030, as part of an initiative by the World Bank.
We also track GHG intensity, which is the quantity of GHGs emitted per a defined unit of production or processing.
In 2018 we saw an improvement in our upstream GHG intensity, mostly due to an overall reduction in GHG emissions due to flaring reductions, increased operational reliability and the completion of start-up activities.
Direct greenhouse gas emissionsᵃ (MteCO₂ equivalent)
a Comprises 100% of emissions from activities that are operated by BP
Direct GHG emissions by sourceᵃ (MteCO₂ equivalent)
a Comprises 100% of emissions from activities that are operated by BP
Greenhouse gas intensityᵇ (TeCO₂ equivalent/unit)
b BP’s equity share data comprises 100% of emissions from subsidiaries and the percentage of emissions equivalent to our share of joint arrangements and associates, other than BP’s share of Rosneft
Energy efficiency (indexed to 2010)
